ArtCorps Announces the 2012 Creative Activists

Aug. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- ArtCorps is pleased to honor Clara Wainwright, Textile Artist and Founding Mother of First Night, and Eryn Johnson, Executive Director of the Community Art Center and an ArtCorps Alumnae, as the 2012 Creative Activists (//http://artcorp.org/creativeactivist). These two innovative leaders are being recognized for using the arts to advance social change and build stronger communities in Boston and beyond. The Creative Activist Awards will be presented to Clara Wainwright and Eryn Johnson on September 20, 2012 at Raising Spirits: ArtCorps' Annual Fiesta (//http://artcorp.org/raisingspirits) at the Willowdale Estate in Topsfield, MA.

Clara Wainwright, Bringing Communities Together Through the Arts
Clara Wainwright is a fabric artist and quilter whose creative vision connects communities. She is the founding mother of First Night, the oldest and largest New Year’s Eve celebration of the arts in North America. First Night has been replicated by over 200 cities and towns around the world.

A shining example of the power of creative collaboration, Clara has facilitated quilt-making projects with more than 50 community groups both regionally and nationally to share their histories and dreams. On Cape Ann, Clara worked with the Fisherman’s Wives Association to tell the story of this community-based organization’s efforts to protect and preserve the New England fishing industry.

One of Clara’s signature projects is Mending Baghdad, a four and a half by six and a half foot quilt memorializing Baghdad as it looked during the American bombing on the first nights of the Iraq war. She intentionally left the quilt unfinished (the pieces were glued down but not stitched together) as a way for the public to symbolically “mend” Baghdad. “Mending Baghdad” workshops were held at the DeCordova Museum, the Cape Ann Museum and the Harvard Kennedy School, sparking reflection and dialogue. All who attend Raising Spirits 2012 will have the opportunity to participate in a community art-making activity inspired by Clara’s mending projects.

Clara is one of New England’s best-known textile artists. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Peabody Essex Museum and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

Eryn Johnson, Developing the Next Generation of Creative Activists

Eryn Johnson’s belief in the power of youth to change the world is evidenced by her commitment to the personal development of each child and teen she works with. Eryn is Executive Director of the Community Art Center in Cambridge, providing arts-based learning and leadership programs for children and youth with limited resources so that they can have a positive impact on their communities. Community engagement, social justice, respect, creativity, imagination, critical thinking, media literacy, team building and public speaking are some of the skills and knowledge developed in the art classrooms at the Community Art Center. The Center is renowned for the “Do It Your Damn Self!!” National Youth Film Festival, the longest-running youth-curated film festival in the country.

Previously as Director of Education at the Citi Performing Arts Center (formerly The Wang Center for the Performing Arts), Eryn designed initiatives such as Dance Across The City, Celebrate Shakespeare and City Spotlights to over 10,000 youth and families each year. One of the first ArtCorps Artists, she began her career as an arts-based facilitator using forum theater and puppetry to promote gender equality and girls' leadership in classrooms in Guatemala.

A respected leader in the emerging field of art for social change, Eryn has presented on arts and youth activism for the New England Women’s Studies Association Conference and Tufts University, and is a consultant in youth development for The Medical Foundation. She received her Bachelor of Arts with High Honors in Theater from Oberlin College and her Masters in Performance Studies from New York University.

Over the last 12 years, ArtCorps (//http://artcorp.org) has accelerated the process of social change by training organizations and the communities they serve in innovative strategies for education, community engagement and leadership development. Our methodology taps into the power of the arts-based strategies--such as murals, theater, radio and music--to unlock creative potential, transfer critical knowledge and inspire long-term behavior change.